Throat-plates with needle threading aid



April 16, 1957 w. .1. PEETS THROAT-PLATES WITH NEEDLE THREADING AID Filed June 3, 1954 INVENTOR.

Wilbur J. Peers BY 9.1L,- Ms ATORNEY WITNESS United States Patent THROAT-PLATES WITH NEEDLE THREADING AID Wilbur J. Peets, Watchung, N. J., assiguor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. 1., a corporafion of New Jersey Application June 3, 1954, Serial No. 434,166

1 Claim. (Cl. 112-260) This invention relates to sewing machines and more particularly to sewing machines having a novel and improved means for helping the operator thread the sewing machine needle.

Because of the many diiferent types of stitch-forming instrumentalities used in sewing machines, no standard direction, i. e., right to left, left to right, front to back or back to front for threading a sewing machine needle has been agreed upon and, therefore, the needle of some sewing machines, in order to make the machine operate, must be threaded from the right to the left of the operator, Whereas the needle of other sewing machines must be threaded from the left to the right. In some cases the needle may have to be threaded from front to back or vice versa. This lack of uniformity has caused a great deal of confusion among both professional and nonprofessional sewing machine operators. The professional sewing machine operator, who works in a factory, may be called upon to do many different tasks. For example, an employee in a clothing factory may work on coats for a period of time and then be transferred to work on trousers or vice versa. Diiferent sewing operations require difierent types of sewing machines and the needle of some of these machines may have to be threaded from the right, while the needle of the other machines may have to be threaded from the left. From this it is easy to understand why sewing machine operators sometimes become confused and forget how to thread the needle of some particular sewing machine. The non-professional sewing machine operator, who sews mostly at home, may have access to only one sewing machine, but since home sewing machines are used periodically, the operator forgets, from one time to the next, the proper direction for threading the needle. Therefore, an important object of the present invention is to provide an improved means for helping the operator properly thread the needle of any particular sewing machine.

Another object of the present invention is to provide means, which, when used in combination with the needle of a sewing machine, will insure fast and accurate threading of the sewing machine needle.

With these and other objects in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention comprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts described in connection with the accompanying drawings which form a part of this disclosure and in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing portions of one type of sewing machine embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the throat-plate of the sewing machine illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of the needle shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a throat plate, embodying the present invention, and adapted for use with a second type of sewing machine; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical view, partly in section, taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 1 and showing the relationship of 2,788,759 Patented Apr. 16, 19 57 "ice the needle with respect to other parts of the sewing machine. I

Referring more specifically to the drawings, one embodiment of the invention, as applied to a sewing machine in which the needle must be threaded from the right to the left, is disclosed in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Further details of the particular sewing machine illustrated may be had by reference to U. S. Patent No. 2,617,375, issued November 11, 1952. In the drawings there is illustrated part of a sewing machine having a frame including a bed 16 to which there is hinged an extension plate 17. The bed 16 is cut away, as at 18, and thereby accommodates a flat-body throat-plate 19, the latter becoming part of the bed 16 since it is held thereto by a pair of machine screws 2121which pass through countersunk holes 2222. A presser-foot 23, of well known construction, is positioned above the throat-plate 19 and is pivotally supported on the lower end of a resser-foot shank 24, the upper end of which is held to the lower end of a presser-bar 26 by means of a thumb screw 27. Also positioned above the throat-plate 19 is a conventional needle-bar 28 reciprocably mounted in a needle-bar bushing 29 which is supported by a sewing machine head (not shown). A thread-guide 31 is held to the bushing 29 by means of a screw 32. The lower end of the needlebar 28 carries a thread-guide 33 as well as a needleclamp 34 of known construction which clamps and supports a pointed needle 36 having an eye 37 and a long thread groove 38. A dashed-dot line marked T indicates the position of the thread as it passes through the threadguide 31, the thread-guide 33 and is about to pass, from.

right to left, through the needle-eye 37. Additional information regarding the proper threading of a needle will be given presently.

The throat-plate 19 has a circular needle aperture 39 for accommodating the aforesaid needle 36. The throatplate 19 has two feed-dog slots 41 and 42 through which a feed dog 43 formed as part of a work feeding mechanism projects to engage and advance the work during a sewing operation. The throat-plate is provided with a hole 44 designated to receive a pin formed as part of any one of a number of attachments (not shown). In order to insure that the operator Will properly thread the needle 36, that is thread it from the right to the left, as seen in Fig. 1, the upper surface of the throat-plate 19 is provided with indicium in the form of a double-lined arrow .6, the pointed head or front end 47 of which is at the left and connected by a shaft 48 to a vane 49 at the right, thus indicating that the eye 37 of the needle 36 is to be threaded from the right to the left.

In order to explain further the proper threading of a sewing machine needle it seems advisable to say that conventional sewing machine needles are provided, as best seen in Fig. 3, with a shank 51 and a blade 53. The blade 53 has the previously described long thread groove 38 extending along one side thereof from the eye 37 to the shank 51. A groove 54 is formed in the opposite side of the blade 53 but extends only a short distance above the needle eye 37. In operation, as the threaded needle passes down through a piece of work material (not shown), one limb of the thread will lie in the long groove 33 but the other limb of the thread will enlarge the hole made in the work material, since there is no long groove in the blade 53 to receive the thread. As the needle is withdrawn from the work, the thread lying in the long groove 38 does not contact the work material to any great extent and is thus Withdrawn as the needle is withdrawn. However, the thread on the opposite or short groove side of the needle makes considerable contact with the Work material. Due to the friction between this thread limb and the Work material, the thread on the short groove side of the blade 53 is retarded belowthethroat-plate 19 and which has its loop taker beak 57 located on the short groove side of the needle 36, are so timed that the loop-taker beak 57 seizes the thread loop as itris formed, the loop-taker 56 pulling thread through the eye 37 of the needle 36 in a direction from the long groove side to the short groove side.

From this it is obvious that the thread spool (not shown) from which the-thread is supplied must be located on the long groove side of the needle and thus theproper way to thread the needle of a sewing machine is to pass the free'end ofthe thread through the needle eye from the longgrooveside-of the needle to the short groove side thereof. Thisiproper threading ofithe needle is clearly indicated by the arrow 46 which has its head 47 pointingtoward the'needle 37 in a direction from the long groove side of the needle to the short groove side thereofv In other words, the needle 36 of the sewing machine shown in Figs. 1 through 3, should be threaded from the right 7 to the left.

Fig; 4 of the drawings illustrates a smaller sized throatplate 119 adapted for use with a sewing machine (not shown), the needle of which must be threaded in the reverse direction (that is, from left to right) from the needle of the machine illustrated in Figs. 1 through 3. The throat-plate 119 has the customary needle aperture 139, countersunk holes 122122, attachment hole 144, as well as feed-dog slots 141 and'142. It will be noted, however, that the upper surface of the throat-plate 119, shown in Fig. 4, is providedtwith indicium in the form of a double-lined arrow 146, the pointed head 147 of which is at the right and connected by a shaft 148 to a 'vane 149 at the left, thus indicating, that the needle (not shown) of the sewing machine to which the throat-plate 119 is adapted to be applied, must be threaded from the left to the right.

It will be understood that since the throat-plate 19 (also 119) is secured to and" becomes a part of the sewing machine bed 16, that the arrow 46 may, if desired, be applied to the bed 16 or any other part of the sewing machine frame and not tothe throat-plate 19.

Having thus set,forth the nature of this invention, what I claim herein is:

A sewingmachine comprising, in combination, a frame having a bed and a;bracket-armrisingfrom and'overhanging said bed; an apertured"throat-plate-secured to said bed; a head formed at the free end of said bracketarm; a needle-bar reciprocablymounted insaidhead; a pointed needle mounted. on said needle-bar so as operatively to enter andleave the aperture in said throatplate, said needle'adjacent to its pointed end having an eye, and along groove extendingalong one, side of, said needle and a short groove extending along the other side,

offsaid needlera loop-taker positioned below saidthroat: plate and'having its loop-taking beak locatedon the short groove side of said needle; and indicium on said throatplate for indicating the proper direction in which the eye 7 of said needle must be threaded for proper operation of 'the'sewing machine, said indicium comprising an arrow having a pointed head and a vane,,and a shaft connecting said head to said vane, the pointed head of said arrow" pointing in a direction from the long, groove Qside of the said needle toward the short groove side thereof. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS I 1,024,416 Myer Apr; 23, 1912 1,890,237. Routtenberg Dec. 6, 1932 2,178,183 Mueller Oct. 31, 1939 2,657,654 Overman et al Nov. 3, 1953 

